Schools were supposed to be given the information through Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangement panels, controlled by police. But the system FAILED.

Now Mr Clarke has ordered the Probation Service to tell heads about "Approved Premises"— Home Office-vetted hostels.

Risks

He told us: "I want to make sure that if there are schools or nurseries that do not have this information we have in place the necessary mechanisms to ensure they do.

"Therefore I have today asked that all schools are made aware, with immediate effect, of the status of any Approved Premises in their vicinity. I have asked as a matter of urgency that the key agencies involved—including education and housing—are fully aware of the potential risks so that appropriate action can be taken."

Last night Sara Payne, the mother of eight-year-old Sarah who was murdered by a serial paedeophile in 2000, welcomed the move. She said: "Although it's just a first step along the way it sounds like a big step—and a brave one—in the right direction.

"Now we must make sure that Mr Clarke's promise is fulfilled."

Mrs Payne, 37, added: "Hopefully we finally have a politician who puts children and their rights first. And not the offenders." TODAY we put every parent in Britain on alert—for nests of convicted paedophiles are being planted right next to unsuspecting schools ALL OVER the country.

A shock nationwide News of the World investigation has revealed a network of official probation hostels swarming with evil sex offenders—and most are deliberately kept secret from neighbouring families and school heads.

In one disturbing case we even discovered a serial child sex monster freed early from jail and sent to a Liverpool halfway house just minutes' walk from the home of his last victim.

Our whistle-blowing evidence has sparked instant action.

Last night Home Secretary Charles Clarke ordered that schools be WARNED of sex-pest hostels in their area. And the Merseyside pervert has been MOVED.

Scandal

It's about time. For our probe exposed past government promises to protect the public as a SHAM. And their MAPPA (Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements) system—introduced as a half-hearted response to our Sarah's Law campaign—to inform communities of monsters in their midst, was revealed as a FLOP.

In Liverpool a terrified mum wept to discover monster Anthony Knowles, who snatched her eight-year-old daughter, had won early release and been secretly moved into the Merseybank hostel near their home. The family got no warning.

After our investigators uncovered the scandal and tipped them off the mother sobbed: "Oh God, not again! I can't believe he's back and so close. I'm going to be looking over my shoulder for ever.

"My daughters are terrified he'll come back for them one day. I'm horrified."

Our camera caught Knowles, 44, prowling his old turf near the hostel—just a short walk from Faith Primary School, with three more within a mile radius.

His sickening record of repeat attacks includes assault on an 18-month-old toddler. In 2001, just 17 DAYS after release from jail to the Merseybank hostel, Knowles targeted his last victims—the eight-year-old girl and a seven-year-old boy playing in the street. Promising Boyzone tickets, he grabbed their hands and marched them off but was seen by the girl's sister who raised the alarm.

Knowles got six years for attempted kidnap but was released just before Christmas. Last night the children's furious mum told us: "He should never be allowed out—he WILL do it again.

"I'm glad he's now been moved out of Merseybank. But they're just shifting a problem to someone else's community."

To test the MAPPA warning system, launched in 2001 in a fanfare of governmnet publicity, we asked the Merseybank hostel manager if he housed sex offenders. He refused to answer.

Posing as an anxious member of the public we asked the same question at nearby St Anne police station. The desk officer claimed no information was available, blaming the Data Protection Act.

We found similar horror stories and responses all over Britain. There are 100 Home Office-approved halfway hostels. But almost every inquiry to find out which ones harbour sex fiends was met with a wall of secrecy. Many police officers hadn't even heard of MAPPA.

In Bournemouth the Pines bail hostel is approved to house child molesters—close to FIVE schools. Pokesdown Primary head Vivienne Miller told us: "I didn't know about it. Thanks for letting me know."

We asked at Boscombe police station if the hostel housed dangerous paedophiles. The desk officer was evasive. She said: "There are all sorts." Could MAPPA help? "No one will tell you," she insisted. In Essex the 24-bed Basildon bail hostel houses sex offenders 200 yards from Briscoe Primary School and Nursery.

Head Diane Pilgrim said: "I wasn't even aware there was a hostel there."

At nearby Pitsea police station we asked if there were sex pests in the hostel. An acting inspector insisted: "I'm not prepared to discuss it with you."

After Charles Clarke's pledge, MAPPA MUST discuss the problem with schools.

But worried parents don't have to take it all on trust. On the right we print our cut-out guide containing the vital questions to ask to keep YOUR kids safe.

Sunday, March 19, 2006

EVERY woman and girl in Britain must today be on her guard—for freed Lotto rapist Iorworth Hoare is on the prowl again.

The News of the World TWICE caught the sex beast leering at unsuspecting schoolgirls out for an innocent lunchtime stroll.

And Hoare is only one of a horde of monsters released from jail to kill, rape or maim again and again.

The shocking cases highlighted on this page all feature repeat offenders set free to destroy the lives of more victims by a justice system hopelessly skewed in the offender's favour.

Hoare—a lifelong sex offender who was sentenced to life but released after 16 years—walked A MILE out of his way to stroll past three schools, swivelling his head to lech over the giggling girls.

Stare

Now his neighbours around the upmarket Darras Hall estate in Ponteland, Northumberland, are terrified. One worried parent said last night: "He's a walking nightmare for us. We all fear he could strike at any time."

Our shock pictures show 53-year-old Hoare, who won £7million Lotto cash in jail, watching two sets of girls intently.

First he fixed them with a menacing stare as they approached him in the tree-lined streets. Then as the oblivious girls passed he turned to ogle them from behind. A neighbour who saw the entire scene told us: "There were three girls aged 14 or 15 in the first group and Hoare couldn't take his eyes off them. When they walked by he actually stopped, turned and glared at them for ages as they moved away.

"It was so blatant. He was obviously leching after them. A few minutes later he did exactly the same thing as another two girls passed. He stared at them walking off into the distance for about four seconds."

The most disturbing thing about Leeds-born Hoare's predatory prowl is the roundabout route he took from his luxury £700,000 home—to maximise his opportunities for crossing the path of teenage girls.

The neighbour told us: "He left his home at lunchtime and walked for about a mile to a cashpoint. Then he went to a baker's, bought a pie and ate it. But all the time he was very furtive as if he was looking out for someone. He then took a much longer route home which took him about a mile out of his way. I thought it was odd—but then I realised it was because he wanted to walk past THREE schools as all the girls were coming out for their midday break.

"It's an absolute scandal that people like Hoare are freed before their sentence is up and then are free to put innocent communities like us in terror."

Since being released in March last year, Hoare has changed his name to Edward Thomas and tried to disguise his appearance. The hair is now short and grey and the beard has gone.

His worried neighbour added: "He dresses as inconspicuously as possible in a country-style coat and jeans.

But we all know who he really is now and we've all told our children to keep as far away from him as they can."

The parents of Ponteland are right to be worried. Judge Richard Rougier, who sentenced Hoare to life in 1989 for brutally dragging off a 60-year-old woman in a park and trying to rape her, told him:

"Every moment you are at liberty, some woman is at risk."

And just two months ago the judge declared: "If I were a woman I wouldn't feel safe with him living near me."

Hoare has committed a series of horrendous crimes dating back over 33 years. His appalling record includes rape, three attempted rapes and three sickening assaults.

He was originally convicted of a rape bid in Leeds in June 1973 and given three years. He was only 21 when he attacked a doctor's wife in the grounds of the city's Killingbeck Hospital.

Alarm

On being freed he tried to rape again and and was jailed for four years in November 1975. But he was let out early—and still a menace to women. In September 1978 he got four more years for indecent assault.

In 1983 he pounced on a woman teacher and sexually attacked her but ran off when the alarm was raised.

A few weeks later he dragged a lone 37-year-old housewife into woods and raped her. He was sentenced to seven years.

But after being released early yet again he struck once more— finally earning his life sentence.

Before his early release last year there was nationwide controversy over his big Lotto win—thanks to a ticket bought while out on day release.

He wasn't freed until March last year having served almost 16 years in prison.

Now the families of Ponteland can only keep watch and pray THEIR luck holds out.

Crack addict who butchered teacher

GENTLE teacher Robert Symons would be alive today if his brutal killer Yousef Bouhaddaou had been kept behind bars.

Instead the crack addict was released early from a five-year stretch for burglary—and just five weeks later he broke into 45-year-old Robert's west London home and stabbed him to death while his two children slept upstairs. Robert died in his wife Linda's arms.

As Bouhaddaou, 28, got life last week, it emerged he was released early despite being previously convicted of at least 19 offences. Linda, 45, said: "That man shouldn't have been on the streets. There is something wrong with a system that lets people offend again and again."

Death at hands of Devil's Child

EVIL Damien Hanson was freed seven years into a 12-year sentence for attempted murder. Just three months later he stabbed financier John Monckton to death on the doorstep of his Chelsea home in a terrifying robbery.

John's wife Homeyra was also knifed but survived. Their nine-year-old daughter Isobel had to dial 999 after finding her parents lying in a pool of blood. Hanson, 25— nicknamed the Devil's Child after The Omen movies— was granted parole even though he had a long history of violence, robbery and theft stretching back to when he was 14.

He should have got a psychological assessment upon release but an inquiry found it was either lost or never carried out so he was never placed under supervision.

Murdered by Home Office

A DISTRAUGHT husband whose wife was slaughtered as she tried to defend him from killer James Paton last night stormed: "The Home Office is responsible for her death too."

Christopher Ruane broke his silence after Paton, 25, got life last week for murdering Diane, 51, in a robbery at the couple's home. Paton was on the streets after serving just two thirds of a six-and-a-half year sentence for manslaughter when he knifed Christopher on his doorstep and slashed mum-of-five Diane's throat as she tried to intervene.

"If Paton hadn't been given such a lenient sentence he couldn't have killed my Diane," said Christopher, 59.

"Now a second family are destroyed because he was allowed back on the streets.

Chest

"I'm speaking out for Diane and for every family which has lost a loved one because the legal system has let them down."

Paton and his accomplice Carl Brady — who got 20 years—left the couple for dead after raiding their Bradford home. Paton had previously killed a man in 1998 after stamping on his chest.

Christopher said: "I hope they never get released. They should die in jail."

Serial Fiend on mission to kill

SEX fiend Anthony Rice murdered young mum Naomi Bryant — just months after being freed from a life sentence.

Rice, 48, was supposed to be under supervision on release in November, 2004, having served only 16 years.

But he stabbed Naomi 15 times because she wouldn't hold his hand in public. He told cops: "There's a determination within me to kill."

Sunday, March 12, 2006

BRITAIN'S top policeman has been caught secretly recording a private phone call to a senior government minister, the News of the World can reveal.

Metropolitan Chief Sir Ian Blair made the digital recording without permission in August, shortly after officers shot Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, wrongly thinking he was a suicide bomber.

The taping—a clear breach of protocol—was of a private one-to-one talk with a senior minister from outside the Home Office.

Our revelation comes after it emerged Sir Ian had also secretly recorded three conversations with Independent Police Complaints Commission officials investigating the de Menezes shooting. They included IPCC chairman Nick Hardwick.

Blair's conduct in the wake of the shooting is being investigated by the IPCC. It is understood two further conversations were recorded by Blair in his private office on Scotland Yard's 8th floor without the other person's knowledge.

The minister involved in the "important" call with Blair was last night said to be livid about the "gross breach of trust".

A Whitehall source said: "He thinks it's unbelievable that the Commissioner could behave so disgracefully—and wants an apology."

At the very least his behaviour will be seen as highly unprofessional. Blair is currently on a ski holiday while his most trusted aides transcribe the recordings to analyse how damaging they are.

Last night senior Whitehall and police sources described the revelation as "explosive" and the reasons for the bugging "a mystery".

One police source said: "Why on earth did he feel he needed to do it? Only he knows. "It's bizarre. He's shot himself and the Met in the foot again."

Sunday, March 05, 2006

FUROUS Tessa Jowell kicked out her husband after a row over him using her links to Tony Blair in a series of dodgy business deals.

The News of the World can reveal the Culture Secretary ACCUSED hubby David Mills of cashing in on her government position and INSISTED on a split.

But last night many MPs, including her own Labour colleagues, dismissed the move as a callous and cynical bid to save her career.

The separation after 27 years of marriage was announced yesterday after two weeks of intense scrutiny into Mills's murky business dealings.

In a statement his solicitor said: "This whole business has imposed a dreadful strain on my client and his marriage. They hope over time their relationship can be restored, but, given the current circumstances, they've agreed to a period of separation."

But we can reveal the final straw was a letter Mills sent to authorities in Dubai where he wanted to be allowed to work as a lawyer. It read:

"You will know I am married to a member of the Cabinet of this country. I have the support and sympathy of very many people in public life, from the Prime Minister down."

When the details became clear on Thursday Ms Jowell, 58, hit the roof. A close friend and colleague revealed: "She was furious that she was reading things in the newspapers that she did not know. The letter brought everything to a head—there has now been a breakdown of trust.

"They love each other very much but for the moment they cannot stay together."

After a huge bust-up the Culture Secretary and her husband spent Friday planning the separation, before she left their London home holding newborn grandchild Lola in the late afternoon.

She informed Prime Minister Tony Blair of her decision and he is understood to have given her his private support in an emotional phone call.

But last night many Labour MPs were suspicious of the motives behind the split, claiming it was too "convenient" for Ms Jowell.

One colleague accused Ms Jowell of causing a "media circus" with the separation. Another branded it a "ridiculous stunt". A third Labour MP said the split "might give her 48 hours but won't save her job". But an MP close to Chancellor Gordon Brown said: "I smell Alastair." He was referring to Mr Blair's former spin doctor Alastair Campbell, who famously told Robin Cook to split from then wife Margaret in an airport as the News of the World was about to expose his affair.

Meanwhile, Mills, 60, left the family home in Kentish Town, north London, early yesterday morning, and was believed to be heading abroad.

Another friend of the couple said: "Tessa's felt pulverised by everything she has discovered this week and thinks the split is the only way forward.

"David didn't want it. At the moment he is a man fighting to save his reputation and his marriage."

Mills, a corporate lawyer, is still facing accusations in Italy that he received a £350,000 bribe in 1999 from Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over evidence he gave in a court case against him—a claim he denies.

He will find out on Tuesday if he will stand trial in Milan. Ms Jowell was dragged into the affair after it was disclosed that she had signed papers for a loan secured on their London home which was subsequently paid off with the help of the £350,000.

Later it was revealed that there have been FIVE loans taken out on their London home and FOUR on their country house in Warwickshire in an astonishing mortgage-go-round. All but two have been repaid.

The couple are also believed to be under increasing financial pressure.

It had been thought Mr Mills was a multi-millionaire but his assets were valued at £470,000 last year and both the couple's homes are now mortgaged.

A probe by Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell found Ms Jowell SHOULD have declared the £350,000 once she found out about it—which Mr Mills said came from a Naples shipowner. Tony Blair, however, accepted her explanation that she was only told by her husband about the money four years later.

Alastair Campbell last night denied he had played any role in advising the couple about their break-up.

He said: "David and Tessa have been good friends of ours for many years and we are obviously very saddened. First I knew was when David told me yesterday."

Ms Jowell's parliamentary private secretary Huw Irranca-Davies insisted that she would be back at work in Westminster as normal on Monday.

He dismissed as "cynical spin" suggestions that the split was simply a "career-saving move".